A group of Filipino community leaders has submitted to President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo three proposals, including the setting up of free schools for Filipino children in Saudi Arabia, their leaders said on Thursday. Frank Naval, chairman of the board of trustees of the United OFWs, said in a telephone interview from Riyadh that the group's international chairman, Eli Mua, submitted a position paper to Arroyo upon her arrival in Riyadh on Monday night. He said the position paper was coursed through Ambassador Antonio Villamor at the Philippine embassy in Riyadh before Arroyo arrived. Arroyo passed by Riyadh on a side trip from Italy, where she also made a brief stop after attending the Davos World Economic Forum. She left Tuesday afternoon. United OFW claims to be the biggest Filipino community group in the Middle East, which is headed in the Philippines by Jun Aguilar, a former worker in Riyady, the group's leaders said. It claims to have 7,000 members. Naval said the group sought Arroyo's help for a government subsidy or establishment of free Filipino schools in the Kingdom because Filipino private schools have have become very expensive. It also proposed the setting up of an OFW International Foundation to be manned by OFWs to help the Philippine embassy, the Philippine Overseas Labor Office and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration look after the workers who have encountered problems in their jobsites. It asked Arroyo to provide additional staff like lawyers for the Philippine overseas labor offices to help handle the workers' cases. It believed that most OFW cases are not properly represented represented in Saudi courts because the workers could not hire Saudi lawyers. The group also sought support for the OFWS by establishing the OFW International Bank from which they can get loans in the Philippines or in the countries where they work to help them set up businesses or for other legal purposes. It also asked for privileges similar to those of Filipino diplomats like bringing back to the Philippines assets like cars tax free. Naval said the group requested the Arroyo government to make representation with Saudi authorities for the setting up of Filipino banks and free schools in the Kingdom to be managed by OFWs. For this reason, the group said, it is necessary for the Philippine government to post a commercial attache and cultural attache at the Philippine embassy to support the program. The group also wants the OFWs to be represented in the House of Representatives by allowing the election of a OFW party-list representative to the House. It asked Arroyo to prompt both the lower and the upper houses of Congress to enact a law that will allocate seven seats for OFWs in the House in the seven continents across the world where there are OFWs like the Asia-Pacific, Middle East, Australia, the North and South Americas, Europe and Africa. “This is the right time that the OFWs must be heard. We are affected so we must participate,” Naval said in the interview.
